The Civil Radical Battles of the Black American Soldier

In March 2025,, a website page dedicated to Women’s History, among others, was removed from Arlington National Cemetery’s website. The page afforded visitors the opportunity to quickly access the names, stories, and gravesites specifically of service women interred at Arlington National Cemetery. While that page is no longer available via ANC, you can find a similar page on our website.
As we approach Memorial Day, we encourage our community to visit the graves and share the stories of those who gave their lives for our national security and freedom on a global scale. We also enthusiastically encourage our community to take the time to learn about the servicewomen killed in action, whose service both, preserved our nation’s security and, in many ways, afforded women the rights we have today.
For members of our community who are able to visit Arlington National Cemetery, visit our website to read the stories of servicewomen interred over its rolling hills and under its shaded oaks, along with the location of their graves. For those who cannot visit, we invite you to read and share their stories. Sharing the stories of our fallen inspires the character of future generations and ensures their legacies are never forgotten.

 ~*~

Were Black World War II Veterans Excluded from GI Bill Benefits?

After fighting wars abroad, Black former servicemen faced segregation, violence, and discrimination at home.

Nur Ibrahim

Image courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration/Wikimedia Commons

After fighting wars abroad, Black former servicemen faced segregation, violence, and discrimination at home.

 

SNOPES

The GI Bill of Rights for returning World War II veterans in 1944 was heralded at the time as a significant piece of legislation that helped propel millions of servicemen into the middle class. The bill—which was promoted as race neutral—provided veterans with unemployment insurance, tuition assistance, job placement, and guaranteed loans for home ownership, farms, and businesses.And the bill did that—just not for most of the roughly 1.2 million Black men who enlisted in the war. On paper they all could have received access to education and home ownership, but they had to contend with racism ingrained into systems around the country, not just in the southern states.A New York Times report described how the civil rights group the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) encouraged more Black men to sign up for the military because of the transformative possibilities the benefits could offer to them. But discrimination found its way into the bill’s implementation, partly because states were responsible for distributing the benefits.Rep. John Rankin, an openly racist Mississippi Democrat, was among those who drafted the bill. He had previously criticized a proposal that the American Red Cross abandon the practice of labelling blood to indicate whether it came from Black or white donors, calling it a conspiracy to “mongrelize the nation.” Rankin ensured that states were responsible for distributing benefits.

The disparity in implementation of the GI Bill increased the gaps in wealth and education between Black and white Americans.

A 1998 report, “First a Negro… Incidentally a Veteran” published by Oxford University Press, looked at what happened to Black veterans in the Deep South, when they tried to obtain their entitlements from 1944 through 1948. The report found that former Black servicemen in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi could not get the promised unemployment compensation, educational opportunities, housing and job loans needed to improve their socioeconomic conditions because of discrimination and poor implementation. Southern Black veterans “had to return home to the lowest rung of the socioeconomic ladder.”

And this was not limited to the South. According to the book, “The GI Bill: The New Deal for Veterans,” Black veterans from the South could not benefit from the historically white educational institutions, and were limited to studying at underfunded, overcrowded, and small historically Black colleges. Journalist and historian Edward Humes wrote in his article, “How the G.I. Bill Shunted Blacks Into Vocational Training,” that tens of thousands of Black veterans were also turned away from historically Black colleges because of limited capacity.

Theoretically, Black veterans in northern states could use their education vouchers to go to colleges, but few actually did. In the late 1940s, annual enrollment of Black students in colleges did not exceed 5,000. These veterans were overwhelmingly channeled into vocational training programs, manual training, and agriculture programs, instead of liberal arts.

A small number of Black veterans did manage to get what they were promised. Humes wrote about how 12 percent of Black veterans did go to college on the GI Bill, compared with 28 percent of white veterans. But out of that 12 percent, 90 percent went to the underfunded historically Black colleges.

The New York Times report detailed how Black veterans were routinely denied mortgages, alongside Black people in general. Across the country, Black home ownership remained extremely low. In 1947, Ebony magazine surveyed 13 Mississippi cities and discovered that of the 3,229 Veterans Affairs (VA) home loans given to veterans, only two went to Black veterans.

In an interview with NPR, Richard Rothstein, the author of the book “The Color Of Law: A Forgotten History Of How Our Government Segregated America,” described in more detail how entrenched racism in other government agencies affected Black people:

The Veterans Administration, established under the GI Bill, adopted all of the [Federal Housing Administration’s] racial exclusion programs. […] Big developments like Levittown or south of San Francisco, Daly City, or many other large subdivisions like that that were built after World War II were financed by the Veterans Administration, not necessarily the Federal Housing Administration, with the same racial restrictions.

In the book, I talk of one family of a returning war veteran who – a very ambitious man. He formed a trucking company, hired a number of people for his trucking company. He was a successful businessman. He got a contract – an African-American. He got a contract from Levitt when he was building Levittown to deliver sheet rock to Levittown. But he and his family members were prohibited from buying homes in Levittown because of the FHA requirement. So the Veterans Administration, which did provide benefits in the area of education to African-Americans – but when it came to housing, they were not permitted to move into areas that the Federal Housing Administration and the Veterans Administration had designated for Whites.

Furthermore, white job counselors at local employment offices across the country refused to refer Black veterans for skilled or semi-skilled jobs, even though many of them came back from the war as fully trained mechanics, welders, electricians, and more.

Given that an overwhelming majority of Black veterans who fought in World War II were not able to benefit from the GI Bill of Rights, and were excluded from accessing it through a combination of racism, exclusionary federal and state law, and poor implementation, we rate this claim as “Mostly True.”

By Nur Ibrahim

Nur Nasreen Ibrahim is a reporter with experience working in television, international news coverage, fact checking, and creative writing.

~*~

Cathay Williams Was the Army’s Only Female Buffalo Soldier

and the First Black Female Enlistee

“William Cathay enlisted in the U.S. Army on Nov. 15, 1866, for a three-year term. Since the Army didn’t do full physical examinations during this period, it would allow Cathay to serve out most of the contract, even though William Cathay was Cathay Williams, a woman posing as a man. But her service started long before she was old enough to enlist.

She would end her Army career as the Army’s only female Buffalo Soldier and the first Black woman to enlist.

Advertisement
She was born in 1844 in Missouri to a free father and an enslaved woman, which made her legally a slave. When the Union Army captured Jefferson City, slaves were considered “contraband” so Cathay Williams and slaves like her supported the Union Army as camp followers. She and others cooked for the troops cleaned their laundry, or acted as nurses.

According to stories told by Williams after her enlistment and discharge, she followed the Union Army throughout the West and was present for many of its most important engagements, including the Siege of Vicksburg and Gen. William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea.

She had begun supporting the Union Army at age 17. By the time the war ended, she was 22 years old, but the Army was all she’d known as an adult. With the Civil War over and slaves across the country freed, she enlisted in the Army, posing as William Cathay, and was sent to the 38th U.S. Infantry Regiment. The unit was organized in 1866 as one of six segregated Black infantry regiments, which became collectively known as “Buffalo Soldiers.” They were the first all-black infantry regiments of the regular Army formed during peacetime.

The 38th’s primary mission was protecting the construction of the intercontinental railroads, the first of which was completed in 1869, when the 38th merged with the 41st Infantry Regiment. The 41st was also a segregated unit, which had spent the time in Louisiana and Texas.  The only thing that kept Williams from completing her enlistment was a disease that would be eliminated in the United States 20 years later: smallpox. She contracted the virus not long after signing up for the Army. After recovering, she rejoined the 38th, which was then in New Mexico for the railroads’ east-west continental connection.

After she suffered years of stress on her body, frequent hospitalizations, and never fully recovered from her smallpox infection, Army doctors finally took a closer look at William Cathay and discovered the truth. She was honorably discharged in 1868 and moved to Fort Union, New Mexico, where she went to work as a cook.

The Buffalo Soldiers went on to fight in the Indian Wars of the American West and the Spanish-American War. Cathay Williams moved to Colorado. She became a seamstress and her story remained untold in the wider press for almost a decade. In 1874, a reporter from the St. Louis Daily Times heard rumors of a Black woman who had served in and was honorably discharged from the Army and published an account two years later.  Williams’ medical troubles followed her for the rest of her life. She was known to have suffered from neuralgia (pain along certain nerves) and diabetes (from which she lost all her toes), but her applications for medical pensions from the Army were denied. No one knows precisely when or where she died or at what age.

The Global Association of Buffalo Soldiers Recognition and Riding Club Inc. finally recognized Williams’ historic service after almost 150 years. In 2015, it unveiled a monument bench for Pvt. Cathay Williams on the Walk of Honor at the National Infantry Museum in Columbus, Georgia.”

–  Blake Stilwell

 

~*****~

Black Servicewomen

Cathay Williams

Cathay Williams

Cathay Williams was born a slave in Independence, Mo., in 1844. As she grew up, she worked as a house slave on a plantation near Jefferson City, Mo. Early in the Civil War, Jefferson City was conquered by Union troops, and captured slaves were pressed into service for the Union Army. Williams was forced to serve in the 8th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment. She traveled with the Union Army through Arkansas, Louisiana, and Georgia. When the Civil War ended, Williams was working at Jefferson Barracks, south of St. Louis.

After the Civil War, the U.S. Congress established the first peacetime all-black regiments in the U.S. Army. They were known as Buffalo Soldiers. Cathay Williams posed as a man, called herself William Cathay, and joined the 38th Regiment. She is now known to be the first African-American female to enlist, and the only person believed to have served in the U.S. Army posing as a man. After being organized at Jefferson Barracks, the 38th Infantry was stationed in the New Mexico Territory and along the transcontinental railroads during their construction. Williams contracted smallpox shortly after enlisting and was hospitalized frequently after that. The post-surgeon finally discovered William Cathay was a woman, and she was discharged from the army in 1868.

“There is no gravestone marking the final resting place of Cathay Williams. Nor is there one for her alter ego, Private William Cathey, who served with the 38th Infantry on the western frontier from 1866 to 1868. “

 

Cathy Williams
1862 US Union soldier Cathy Williams. She had to pose as a male to be enlisted. She was part of the 38 Regiment, Infantry Division, and was called a Buffalo Soldier.
Cathay Williams was an African-American soldier who enlisted in the United States Army under the pseudonym William Cathay. She was the first Black woman to enlist, and the only documented woman to serve in the United States Army posing as a man during the American Indian Wars. (Wikipedia)
Born: September 1844, Independence, MO
Died: 1893, Trinidad, CO
Other names: John Williams, William Cathay
Rank: Private
Unit: 38th U.S. Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army (Buffalo soldier)
Years of service: 1866–1868

 

African American WACS

Group of African American members of the Women’s Army Corps (WACs) posing for a group photo in uniform during World War 2, 1940. (Photo by Afro-American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images).

The Senate passed legislation to award the only all-Black Women’s Army Corps (WACs) deployed overseas during World War II the Congressional Gold Medal. The “Six Triple Eight” self-contained postal unit completed the seemingly impossible task of tackling the mail backlog during the final months of the war.

Women’s Army Corps (WAC), a U.S. Army unit created during World War II to enable women to serve in noncombat positions. Never before had women, except nurses, served within the ranks of the U.S. Army. With the establishment of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), more than 150,000 did so.

 

African-American women joined the WAC during World War II seeking opportunity and a chance to support the war effort. For some, the experience was disappointing. Courtesy of the National Archives at College Park/Wikimedia Commons. – Captain Adams drilling her company at the first W.A.A.C. training center in Fort Des Moines, Iowa, in 1943.  – Credit…  National Archives.   

“In January 1945, a C-54 cargo plane carrying a group of young Army officers departed an Air Transport Command terminal in Washington for war-torn Europe. Among the passengers was a 26-year-old major named Charity Adams, who was quietly making history as the first African-American commanding officer in the Women’s Army Corps to be deployed to a theater of war. As the plane ascended over the Atlantic, she still wasn’t sure where she was headed or what she would be doing there. Her orders, marked “Secret,” were to be unsealed in flight. When she opened the envelope, the documents revealed only that her destination was somewhere in the British Isles; she would be briefed on the particulars of the mission once on the ground.

A couple of weeks later, Adams stood on a windswept parade field in Birmingham, England, addressing a formation of hundreds of Black soldiers in khaki-skirted uniforms. She had been placed in command of a battalion that would soon number 855 women. She could see that many were scared and tired, still reeling from a treacherous 11-day journey from the United States by sea spent dodging torpedoes and German U-boats. Groans rippled through the ranks as Adams explained that they would begin work immediately. As the newly created 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, their mission was neither glamorous nor particularly thrilling. The work would be grueling, the hours long, and what little sleep they were allotted would be prone to interruption by air raids. Progress would be measured by the depletion of undelivered mail they had been summoned to England to sort out. With the war now at its bloody peak, mail was indispensable for morale, but delivering it had become a towering logistical challenge. The backlog piled haphazardly in cavernous hangars, amounted to more than 17 million letters and packages addressed to Allied military personnel scattered across Europe.”

Despite her can-do attitude, Adams believed that she and her troops had been set up for failure. Before the formation of the Six Triple Eight, as the battalion was known, it was unfathomable that a unit composed entirely of Black women would be posted overseas and trusted with such a monumental task. The Six Triple Eight was an experiment — a pass-fail test to determine the value Black women brought to the military. Years of unyielding pressure from civil rights activists, including the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, had convinced the War Department to give them a shot, but those who strongly opposed their inclusion in the ranks expected to be validated by seeing them fail. “The eyes of the public would be upon us, waiting for one slip in our conduct or performance,” Adams later recalled in her memoir. She knew that simply getting the job done wouldn’t be enough. The Six Triple Eight would need to not only pass the test but also, as Adams wrote, prove to “be the best WAC unit ever sent into a foreign theater.”

A pastor’s daughter from Columbia, S.C., Adams dropped out of graduate school to join the war effort in the summer of 1942, after the newly formed Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (W.A.A.C.) announced that it was accepting 40 Black women into its first officer-candidate school. Black civic leaders were calling for African-American men and women to volunteer for military service and fight for equal rights overseas; as Adams soon learned, however, the arbitrary constraints of Jim Crow applied even in matters of national security. At the ceremony that culminated the W.A.A.C. officer course, the candidates were commissioned as third officers, equivalent to Army second lieutenants, in alphabetical order by last name. Though Adams topped the list, she watched all the white candidates cross the stage before her name was called and she officially became the first Black woman ever commissioned in the corps.

Unsung Hero of WWII Boosted Morale by Sorting Soldiers’ Mail

Hilda Griggs, 99, is one of the last surviving members of the all-female 6888th postal unit

“News from home was a lifeline for soldiers in World War II. But as fighting intensified in Europe, undelivered mail piled up, deflating the morale of Americans on the front lines desperate for letters from loved ones. It was a problem Sgt. Hilda P. Griggs crossed the Atlantic in 1945 to fix.

February marks 79 years since the first and only all-African American and Hispanic Women’s Army Corps (WAC) unit was deployed to Europe during World War II. Griggs, now 99 years old, was one of the 855 members of that unit, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, which was tasked with sorting through the two-year backlog of mail intended for service members and other personnel serving in the European Theater. The motto of the 6888th wasn’t ambiguous: “No mail, low morale.”

“My mother didn’t want me to leave, but I came to Philadelphia and joined,” says Griggs, adding she was inspired to enlist because she had five brothers in the service and was lonely at home.

At first, Griggs recalls that her captain thought she didn’t want to go to Europe.

A group of African American soldiers are talking outside of a door during World War Two
Pvt. Ruth L. James of the battalion is on duty at the gate of an open house in Rouen, France.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES 

“I let her know immediately that, that’s not the way I look at it. I wanted to go because I wanted the experience,” she says.

Troops were constantly changing locations during the war, which hampered mail delivery, and many soldiers shared common names. The 6888th encountered 7,500 undelivered letters addressed to “Robert Smith” alone. Morale suffered more and more as mail languished in warehouses.

To get the job done, members of the 6888th arrived in England and were put on eight-hour shifts that went around the clock, seven days a week. When a package was insufficiently addressed the battalion would look for clues within the contents to determine the intended recipient.

“There was always something to do,” says Griggs. “If there was nothing in our quarters, then we would go to the headquarters and do whatever they had there.”

The women processed an average of 65,000 pieces of mail per shift. Given six months by the Army to work through a backlog of nearly 18 million pieces of mail, the 6888th completed the formidable task in just three months. In between shifts, the women were welcomed by locals and even established friendships. 

“They all wanted us to come to their house and have dinner with them. But we weren’t allowed to do that,” says Griggs. “So, they would have to come to where we were.”

Once they finished the job in Birmingham, England, the battalion sailed to France to sort through another hoard of undelivered mail.  

“I ended up being in charge of the barracks where we slept,” says Griggs. “That was interesting because some of them didn’t make their beds right, and they had to strip them and do them all over again.”

After the mail in France was cleared, hundreds of women of the 6888th began returning home. By February 1946 the entire battalion was back in the U.S. However, they arrived without fanfare and received no public recognition at the time for their efforts.

“Then the war was over; it was so fast,” recalls Griggs. “Everyone was kind of surprised how quick the war ended, and I was a little disappointed because it took away my job.”

Griggs was honorably discharged in 1946. Today, she is one of only eight known surviving members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.

This past week Sgt. Griggs was honored with the Army’s Meritorious Unit Commendation Award, presented by a two-star general.

When asked about her secret to longevity, the sergeant in Griggs comes out: “Mind your own business, do what you’re told and keep on walking.”

During this time the Navy also established the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) program, with more than 100,000 women joining and performing critical jobs including military intelligence, cryptography, and parachute rigging.
The WAC was disbanded in 1978, and all units were integrated with male units.

 

The 6888th Battalion took part in a parade in May 1945 in honor of Joan of Arc at the marketplace in Rouen, France, where she was burned at the stake. Credit…National Archives 

The Only Black, All-Female Unit to Serve Overseas in World War II Receives the Congressional Gold Medal

The Six Triple Eight cleared a years-long backlog of mail in just three months. Eighty years later, the unit is finally getting the recognition it deserves.

 

Women Who Shaped History A Smithsonian magazine special report

Ellen Wexler
Ellen Wexler – Assistant Editor, Humanities
April 30, 2025

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-only-black-all-female-unit-to-serve-overseas-in-world-war-ii-receives-the-congressional-gold-medal-180986528/?lctg=93179847&fbclid=IwY2xjawKJ5o9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFpMjNDb2p6cWF1OGcwTnRiAR5eDcoCk9QPB_JvxwHjcI4DUDGIjBybSjddgVyYFly4TrqoWwGPWSuIcD8aPg_aem_VFKdmvI-iWeWB_ayt3SMXg

“When Congress voted to bestow its highest honor on the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion in 2022, only six members of the 855-person World War II unit were still alive.

Due to logistical delays, the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony wouldn’t be held for another three years. By the time it finally took place on April 29, 2025, four of the six surviving members of the unit had died.

The 6888th, also known as the Six Triple Eight, was the only Black, all-female unit to serve overseas in World War II. It was tasked with sorting through a staggering backlog of mail—millions of letters and packages—that had been collecting dust for more than two years.

“So many other units had tried and failed to clear the backlog,” Colonel Edna Cummings, who has pushed for formal recognition of the battalion, told Smithsonian magazine’s Chris Klimek in 2023. “The Army thought it would take at least six months, if at all, to clear the backlog. Six Triple Eight got it done in three months. They cut the processing time by 50 percent.”

On Tuesday afternoon, House Speaker Mike Johnson presented the medal to the family of Charity Adams Earley, the battalion’s commanding officer. According to the Associated Press’ Fernanda Figueroa and Matt Brown, more than 300 descendants of women who served in the unit attended the ceremony at the United States Capitol.”

~*~

Nurses In The Southwest Pacific

 

A contingent of fifteen nurses arrived in the Southwest Pacific area after receiving their first batch of home mail at their station at the 268th Station Hospital in Australia, on November 29, 1943. Image courtesy National Archives. (Photo via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images).

The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion helped connect soldiers on the front lines with their families back home.

“In 1927, an unlikely friendship arose between educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune and future First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, based on a shared belief in the power of education. When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933, Bethune served as an advisor on minority issues and eventually was named Director of Negro Affairs in 1939. Her work with the administration led to the creation of the Black Cabinet, an informal group of advisors who worked on issues facing Black communities across the United States. The Black Cabinet helped the Roosevelt administration draft executive orders that ended the exclusion of Black Americans in the Army during World War II. In 1944, with the support of the First Lady, Bethune pushed for the admittance of Black women in the military, through inclusion in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), a branch of the Army created in 1942. Though there was a backlash against having women in uniform from conservative elements in military leadership, tens of thousands of women were trained in a variety of non-combat specialties that were thought appropriate for women at the time: switchboard operation, baking, mechanics, stenography, postal work, and more.

All were critical to the operation of the Army during wartime. Sending and receiving mail, for example, was a lifeline for soldiers, and the only way to stay connected to the friends and families they left behind. In 1945 alone, more than 3.3 billion pieces of mail went through the military postal service. Around 8 million Americans were stationed in Europe that year. The task of organizing and delivering all that mail was daunting, and a shortage of qualified postal workers led to a massive backlog. Army officers reported that the undelivered mail was hurting morale. Something had to be done, and a unique WAC battalion answered the call
THE TASK OF SIFTING THROUGH this growing stack of letters and packages—some of which had been mailed years before—was given to the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only all-Black, all-female battalion to serve overseas during World War II. The 6888th—nicknamed “Six Triple Eight” and led by Major Charity Adams Earley—was originally expected to sort through 7 million pieces of mail and packages in Birmingham, England, over six months. They did the job in three.”

The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion served in Birmingham, England; Rouen, France; and Paris between February 1945 and February 1946. NATIONAL ARCHIVE

Black American Nurses

Black American nurses commissioned second lieutenants in the United States Army Nurses Corps to limber up their muscles in an early morning workout during an advanced training course at a camp in Australia, in February 1944. Image courtesy National Archives. (Photo via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images).

Fast Facts about Women in the Wartime Industry

  • By 1944, 1 out of 5 defense workers was a woman who had recently been a student

  • By 1944 1 out of 3 defense workers were former full-time homemakers

  • World War II was the first time in U.S. history that married women outnumbered single women workers. 1

  • The largest employers of women during World War II were airplane manufacturers such as Boeing Aircraft, Consolidated Aircraft Corporation, and Douglass Aircraft Company. Other major employers included Chrysler, Goodyear, and Ford.

  • Between 1940 and 1960 the number of working women doubled, rising from 15% of the workforce to 30%. Working mothers increased by 400%.

  • Most trade unions maintained separate seniority lists for men and women but by 1944 more than 3 million women made up 22% of all trade union membership in the U.S.

  • A survey taken immediately after WWII by the Bureau of Women Workers revealed 75% of women workers preferred to remain employed outside their homes 2

  • By 1955, more women worked in the labor force than during World War II

 

During the Great Depression, (1929-World War II) women were discouraged from working so the few jobs available could go to male breadwinners. To encourage women into the workforce, the federal government’s War Manpower Commission, War Production Board, and defense industries launched a massive campaign centered around recruitment posters. The substantial need for war supplies coupled with the staggering number of men drafted into the war created mass vacancies in factories across the nation.

​

The War Department seized the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: get the soldiers their mail and grant Black women fuller participation in the war. By that point, Adams had ascended to the rank of major and had served in various administrative and leadership roles. She was training recruits in Fort Des Moines when her commander asked how she would feel about an assignment in Europe. She was hesitant at first, concerned that she might be out of her depth leading troops overseas. But it seems that whatever doubts she harbored vanished by the time she arrived on the ground. She was allotted six months to complete her mission. The Six Triple Eight would do it in three.

The Six Triple Eight and civilian postal employees sorted mail in France in November 1945, two months after the war ended.
The Six Triple Eight and civilian postal employees sorted mail in France in November 1945, two months after the war ended. Credit… National Archives

In 1942, the U.S. Navy established the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), but Black women were excluded. Despite repeated attempts to enlist, they were turned away.
That is until Harriet Pickens and Frances Wills made history as the first Black female officers in the Navy; Pickens as a lieutenant junior grade and Wills as an ensign. They were both assigned to the enlisted WAVES training facility at Hunter College in the Bronx, New York City.
Though their service ended after WWII, their impact lives on. We honor Pickens and Wills for their courage and perseverance, and for paving the path for future generations.

Economist Theresa Wolfson described the tension women felt in 1942 after the Bombing of Pearl Harbor:

 “It is not easy to forget the propaganda of two decades [during the Great Depression] even in the face of a national emergency such as a great war. Women themselves doubted their ability to do a man’s job. Married women with families were loath to leave their homes; society had made so little provision for the thousands of jobs that a homemaker must tackle. A

“The most prominent image of Rosie the Riveter popularized in American culture was the version featured on the “We Can Do It!” posters created by the United States government. ​ This Rosie bears a striking likeness to Rockwell’s Rosie, but she is less masculine. While Rockwell’s Rosie has bulging arm muscles, this second Rosie poses with a flexed arm, hair gently tucked into a bandana, and perfectly applied makeup. This version of Rosie the Riveter employed by the United States government was popular because it appealed to the sense of patriotism and common goal of the Second World War while showing that women could retain their femininity and womanhood in their service. Every Rosie the Riveter image played to this prevailing sense of patriotism that abounded in America during World War II. The government and employers utilized patriotism as a primary motivator to recruit women for war work. Most American women had husbands, brothers, sons, and fiancés fighting on the frontlines of the war, so the women felt compelled to provide to make an equally significant contribution as citizens at home. 3 In many cases, women had to continue maintaining their households and caring for their children, while also taking a full-time job.”

The roles Black Rosies played in the war effort ran the gamut.

African American female riveter sitting on a huge piece of machinery during WWII at Lockheed Aircraft Corp., 1942. Time Life Pictures/Women’s Bureau/National Archives/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

They worked in factories as sheet metal workers and munitions and explosive assemblers; in navy yards as shipbuilders and along assembly lines as electricians.

Welders prepared to work on SS George Washington Carver in Richmond, California, in 1943. E. F. Joseph/Anthony Potter Collection/Getty Images

They were administrators, welders, railroad conductors, and more.

In 1945, in a written report compiled at the end of the war, Kathryn Blood, a researcher of the Department of Labor studying the wartime contributions of Black women, wrote the following about the Black Rosies:

“The contribution [of Black women] is one which this nation would be unwise to forget or evaluate falsely.”

But for decades, the efforts of Black Rosies went largely unrecognized—until African American historians, playwrights, and filmmakers like Mr. Cooke began, in the 21st century, shedding light on their contributions.

“These women, I truly believe, are some of the most significant women of the 20th century,” says Mr. Cooke.

“At the time, we didn’t think about it as wanting recognition,” says Mrs. Wilson. “But now it does feel nice to know that the work we did is being remembered.”

“Members of the battalion received the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Women’s Army Corps Service Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal, but wider recognition for their accomplishments didn’t come for another 60 years. In 2009, three former members of the unit, Alyce Dixon, Mary Ragland, and Gladys Shuster Carter, attended a commendation ceremony at the Military Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. On November 30, 2018, a monument dedicated to the 6888th was built at the Buffalo Soldier Monument Park in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, consisting of a 25-inch bronze bust of commanding officer Major Adams. The back panel has the names of the 800-plus women who were assigned to the unit, by state of origin. On March 14, 2022, President Joe Biden signed a bill awarding the battalion the Congressional Gold Medal.

The legacy of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion goes beyond their incredible work during World War II. The women and their stories have been included in exhibits, books, documentaries, and even a forthcoming Netflix film directed by Tyler Perry called Six Triple Eight starring Kerry Washington and Oprah Winfrey. Even as Jim Crow laws persisted at home, the 6888th provided an intimate and necessary connection between soldiers on the front line and their families on the home front. They left their mark in hearts and minds.”

@ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2025 – Iforcolor.org/Dale Shields

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED

Pages:

iforcolor

ARCHIVIST, EDUCATOR, HISTORIAN, and ARTiST
Dale Ricardo Shields is highly accomplished African American actor, director, producer, and educator with a distinguished career in theatre and academia.

Here's a summary of his background and achievements:

Early Life and Family:
Born on November 4, 1952, in Cleveland, Ohio.
His family has a strong musical background; his grandfather and father were founding members of the Shields Brothers Gospel Quartet of Ohio, and his mother was part of the Turner Gospel Singers.
He is a cousin of boxing promoter Don King.
Education:
Graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in 1970.
Holds both a BFA (1975) and MFA (1995) from Ohio University.

Career and Contributions
Theatre Professional:
Actor: Has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and in regional productions. His television credits include The Cosby Show, Another World, Guiding Light, Saturday Night Live, and the ITV series Special Needs. He has also appeared in commercials and films.
Director and Stage Manager: Has extensive professional credits in these roles, including projects at Lincoln Center, The Henry Street Settlement House (New Federal Theatre), The Negro Ensemble Company, and The Joseph Papp Public Theatre.
Assistant Director: Served as assistant to Lloyd Richards and assistant director for the New Federal Theatre premiere of Ossie Davis's play A Last Dance With Sybil starring Ruby Dee and Earl Hyman.

Educator:
Professor: He is a Professor of Acting, Directing, Black Theatre, Black Studies, and Stage Management. He has taught at various institutions, including Ohio University, The College of Wooster, Denison University, Macalester College, Susquehanna University (as artist-in-residence), and SUNY Potsdam.
Workshops and Programs: Conducted workshops for Joseph Papp's Playwriting in the Schools Program (PITS) at The Public Theatre for six seasons and represented the United States at the ASSITEJ Theatre Festival in London, England, in 1988.
Artistic Activist and Historian:

Iforcolor.org: Creator and archivist for the Black History website Iforcolor.org, dedicated to preserving and sharing information about African Americans and artists of color. He also maintains the "Black Theatre/African American Voices" website on Facebook.
Project1VOICE Liaison: Serves as the Project1VOICE Liaison for the state of Ohio, directing "One Play One Day" events in Cleveland since 2011.

Awards and Recognition:
The Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award: Recipient in 2017.
Paul Robeson Award: Recipient in 2021 (jointly presented by the Actors' Equity Association and Actors' Equity Foundation).
AUDELCO/"VIV" Special Achievement Award: Received in 2017.
Tony Award Nominee: Nominated for the "Excellence in Theatre Education Award" in 2015 and 2017.
Ebony Bobcat Network (EBN) Legend Award: Received from Ohio University in 2022.
ENCORE AWARD / The Actors Fund: Received in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2024.
Outstanding Professor Awards: Has received two of these and three "Educational Program of the Year" awards as a university professor.
The HistoryMakers archives: Interviewed and included in The HistoryMakers archives, permanently housed in the Library of Congress.
Dale Ricardo Shields is recognized for his profound impact on the lives of his students and his unwavering dedication to preserving and promoting Black theatre history and culture.